This Man Is Suing Border Patrol for Seizing His Life Savings
Joe Cortez June 05, 2018
An American citizen is accusing U.S. Customs and Border Protection over what they allege to be illegal search and seizure. Rusteem Kazazi was flying back to his native Albania with $58,000 in cash to help his family, when he claims Customs officers strip searched him and took his money. The government claims their actions are legal under civil asset forfeiture.
An Albanian native living in Cleveland wants the federal government to return $58,100 taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers when he was flying from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE). The Washington Post reports 64-year-old Rusteem Kazazi filed the lawsuit an Ohio federal court, hoping to get his life savings back from the government.
Kazazi is a retired Albanian police officer who legally moved to the United States in 2005. But in 2017, he decided to take a trip back to his home, with the goal of helping family repair a property and potentially purchase a vacation home. Instead of wiring the $58,100 in savings to a bank, he decided to carry it on his person – for security reasons.
However, he alleges that Customs accused him of being involved in crime, triggered by the fact he was carrying the large sum of cash. According to the lawsuit, the cash was first discovered by the Transportation Security Administration, who then contacted Customs. After seizing Kazaki’s drivers’ license and passport, his lawsuit claims: “they searched Rusteem, his clothing and his personal effects several times, even requiring him to strip naked and searching him head to toe.”
During this process, Kazazi also accuses Customs of seizing his $58,100, contained in three different envelopes. At the airport, the flyer says he was only given a receipt for an unlisted amount of U.S. currency. Only on December 1, 2017, did he get a formal Notice of Seizure from Customs in the amount of $57,330 – $770 less than he claimed he was carrying. The reason given was for his involvement “in a smuggling/drug trafficking/money laundering operation.”
Because Kazazi was never charged with a crime, he is accusing the government of illegally seizing his money and is demanding it back. Lawyers argue that because there was no evidence that Kazazi was involved in any wrongdoing, he should receive his cash without conditions.
In a statement to the Washington Post, Customs defended their seizure of the money. “Mr. Kazazi provided inconsistent statements regarding the currency, had no verifiable source of income and possessed evidence of structuring activity,” the statement read. “Failure to declare monetary instruments in amounts more than $10,000 can result in fines or forfeiture and could result in civil and or criminal penalties.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
Even on a domestic flight, if TSA finds in excess of 10,000 on you, you may be subjected to questioning about why you have that much cash. If you are sketchy about it, like this guy apparently was, then you will lose that money. Same as if driving down the road and Johnny Law pulls you over with 58K in cash and you can't explain why you have it.
1) He was a US citizen, he moved here legally and passed the citizenship test. 2) He was legally required to declare the currency at the port of exit, he had not failed to do that. They arrested him prior to a domestic flight. 3) Even if he HAD failed to declare the currency, the penalty for not declaring the money is not "the government gets to take all the money" 4) the government made up an accusation for which there was no proof (he is involved in drugs/smuggling/money laundering) as a pretext to take his money 5) The government then realized they goofed, couldn't find any evidence to charge him for a crime, and sat on the money, refusing to give it back. 6) Another article reported that he had bank withdrawal sheets and had listed the exact amount of cash in each envelope. The $770 somehow got "lost" during processing, which almost certainly means a federal agent got sticky fingers and stole it, then falsified the receipt to show that $770 fewer dollars were seized.
There is not a "Limit" to bringing cash into or out of the USA. But there is a requirement to disclose that you are brining in more than $10,000 cash into the USA or out of the USA, if that is what you are doing. To get around this possible problem, it is best to use reputable banks to send the money to or from the USA. Failure to follow the disclosure requirements may result in permanent forfeiture of the money and possible other penalties.
Glad he got his money back but a clear illustration of how our freedoms are compromised. Frankly not sure how he got this much cash (not implying it was not earned) as obtaining currency from a legitimate bank account has many reporting restrictions. Big Guv is watching
Civil forfeiture is legalized government robbery. if someone is not charged with a crime this government theft deprives a citizen of due process. this is something the courts got terribly wrong. congress should put a stop to it but congress is corrupt themselves and will not protect those who put them in office. .